Date

6-26-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

Robin Switzer

Keywords

SGM, spiritual abuse, religious trauma, suicide, trauma, PTSD

Disciplines

Counseling

Abstract

A niche venue of research around religious trauma and spiritual abuse has demonstrated adverse outcomes of individuals who feel manipulated or harmed by institutions or individuals holding an imbalance of religious power. While general claims are often made that religion is a positive force on health and psychological wellness, religious trauma is usually associated with PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other pathological symptoms. Interestingly, an area where religion is not related to positive outcomes is among sexual and gender minorities, who show poorer health, higher suicidal rates, and poorer psychological well-being correlated with higher religiosity. While research has been conducted to show that sexual and gender minorities incur specific forms of harmful religious experiences, virtually no study has attempted to examine the relationship of these specific experiences to medical health outcomes (MHO) quantitatively. In the following study, a range of unique experiences of religious trauma is suggested to correlate with various MHO, including PTSD, depression, and SI.

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